Sasuke opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling of his small apartment.
After Pain had destroyed Konoha, what was left of the Uchiha mansion was turned to rubble. Thus, upon coming back to his hometown after the Fourth Shinobi War, the raven-haired boy was given this place that consisted only of a bedroom, a small living room and a decent kitchen that he barely used anyway.
He exhaled and rubbed his eyes. The birds were singing cheerfully outside on this warm, July morning.
And he hated it. He hated everything. He was in a strangely bad mood.
Finally standing up, he headed for the bathroom and washed his face with cold water in hopes that it would cast the sleepiness away. His bangs stuck to his wet forehead and he stared at the mirror, feeling the need to cut his hair, it had grown too long again.
Just as he was grabbing a kunai from his bedroom, someone knocked on his door.
"Teme!"
Sasuke eyed the front door as he was passing it and stood still for a moment. Then he continued walking, completely ignoring this.
"Come on, teme!" Naruto yelled on the other side of the door. "I know you are in there."
The Uchiha had found his kunai and was currently wondering whether to use it on his hair, or on the blond dobe that was disturbing his peaceful hating. He walked to the door, annoyed by the loud bangs that the Uzumaki's fists created upon colliding with the wooden door.
"Go away, dobe. I am not home."
For a moment the noise ceased. Then it returned with full force. "Come on, Sasuke, it's your birthday! Come out already."
Ah, the boy thought. Right. My birthday.
"Go away," he repeated and went to brush his teeth.
But Naruto was not someone to give up so easily. "Come on already! Sakura-chan made you a cake! You don't want to disappoint her, do you?"
Suddenly, the door was opened harshly. Black eyes stared at blue. "I hate cakes," he noted and slammed the door in the blond's face.
"If you do not come out on your own, I will break in and force you."
The Uchiha didn't answer, but his laugh could be heard clearly. The Uzumaki clenched his fists. "Fine," he called angrily. "But don't blame me when one day you wake up and realize you have turned into a crazy cat-lady!"
Sasuke listened as his ex-teammate walked away and frowned. His cat gave him a questioning look, but he shook his head.
In a few minutes his hair was cut to its normal length. It was a mess, but he didn't care, it was the best thing he could do anyway. He could never cut it evenly and it was always shorter on the back and longer on the front.
Walking in his living room, he made sure the blinds were down and grabbed a book, crashing in his couch. He opened it, only to be interrupted by another knock on the door.
"Sasuke-kun, are you alright?"
He exhaled and rubbed his temples. As much as he wanted it, as much as he tried, Sakura would just not give up. He had even tried murdering her with the hopes that she would get the hint and leave him alone, but nothing seemed to work. Covering his head with the open book, he leaned back and hoped she would not find out he was there. He could conceal his chakra well, Naruto seemed to be the only one that could sense him, due to the Nine Tails.
"Sasuke-kun?"
Sakura frowned. Naruto had just told her that he wouldn't go out, and now he wasn't in at all? Sighing, she wondered whether it was a good idea to use her special fist attach and burst in. After all, that cake had taken her a whole night. She and Ino had went through a lot to make a surprise party for him.
But what had she expected anyway? The Uchiha was not a party person. In fact, he rarely left this darn apartment. She could see him only when he was headed for a mission. Sighing again, she pressed her ear to the door, but could neither feel his chakra, nor hear anything.
"I know that you do not like celebrating but... In case you change your mind, we will be at Ichiraku's place."
She walked away, finally leaving him alone. The book was still resting on his face and he enjoyed the darkness and shade it provided for his eyes.
The only times Sasuke had ever celebrated his birthdays was back when his family was... alive. When his mother prepared those amazing rice balls and he ate them, garnered with fresh tomatoes until he felt like exploding. Back when his father always found the most interesting things to give him as presents - old family scrolls, ancient kunai, passed through generations. And back when Itachi was there and took him for a birthday spar, when he always let him win the fight.
This was all so childish! The book was tossed on the floor and he sat up, holding his face with his palms. He didn't need that any more. In fact, the less he was reminded of his birthday, the better. The thought of these old days when he was just a kid brought a strange ache in his heart. He knew he would never have moments like those ones ever again.
Sleep. He needed more sleep. Only that way he could stop thinking of the only thing he ever thought of on his birthday. And seeing the empty walls made him feel even worse.
And, yet again, someone knocked on his door. This time the doorknob was twisted and Sasuke appreciated the idea of locking himself in.
Kakashi couldn't enter, so he knocked again.
"I know you are in there."
Annoyed, the boy stood up and opened, staring at the masked man.
"I will not attend any ridiculous events, especially ones that have anything to do with celebrating."
His sensei blinked. The boy was like that every ear, but today he was particularly grumpy. "Ino and Sakura had outdone themselves this time. You should at least come and check things out."
Sasuke regretted opening the door. But the Hatake was really the only one that had some sense in him. He seemed not to be too fond of birthdays either.
"I have not asked for this, so they can go ahead and celebrate without me."
"At least come for the cake."
"I don't like cakes!"
"I know," the masked man explained. "But do it for your friends."
"Hah, friends!" anger filled his voice. "If they were any real friends, they would know to leave me alone."
The door was closed before Kakashi could say anything else. And he couldn't really blame the boy. It was futile to force him out, just as it was futile to force a snake to fly. Exhaling, he walked away. The girls would probably cry again.
Sasuke was reading the same paragraph for the fifth time now. He was pissed off, and was annoyed, and was utterly angry. Was it too much to ask for people to leave him alone?
During the day Naruto had come three more times, Sakura had pleaded him to go out a total of 6 times, and Ino had even gone far enough to come and cry at his door, and then threaten him with mind-impairing jutsus.
It was dark now. The sun had set about an hour ago and the summer heat was slowly fading away, to be replaced by the cold night breeze. Feeling the need to cool down, he decided to finally go out. And yet, he had no intentions of checking that 'party' and whether it was still going. He loved climbing on the roof of that small building, letting the night ease his nerves.
He decided that the front door could be booby-trapped by someone of the birthday-organizers, who definitely would be tracking if he went out, so he jumped out of his bedroom window and headed for the staircase on the side of the building.
He was just making the turn, hurrying to get out of sight before someone had spotted him, when a girl crashed into his chest. Both jumped back to maintain their balance.
Sasuke stared at her, her white eyes wide. This was the Hyuuga girl, Hinata, the one from the Main Branch family. The one that he had managed to notice only during the war. He vaguely remembered a constantly blushing girl with short hair that always stuck around Naruto, who was idiotic enough not to notice this at all.
The boy realized he was staring at her and gave her a questioning look. A blush appeared in her cheeks and got so intense that she was almost glowing in the dark. And yet, the girl straightened up, gulped and took a deep breath, fixing her exceptionally long, raven hair that strangely complimented the paleness of her eyes.
"A-ano..." she started, trying to breathe evenly. "Happy birthday."
Her hands extended and in them was a small, square package. He did not take it and only shifted his eyes from it, back to her. The girl looked away, feeling her cheeks burn.
"I know that you... That you do not like celebrating. But everyone deserves a gift for growing up." Her smile almost shocked him. He could not remember anyone looking at him with that much kindness. Not after his mother had passed away.
Her arms were still sticking in front of her and she took a small step, urging him to take it. He finally decided to do so, only to notice the package was quite light. He wondered what it contained.
"Also," she continued, taking a step back and playing with the zipper of her long jacket, "I heard you do not like sweets. I made this myself and have no idea if... if it is even good. But every birthday needs a cake."
Her stutter was both annoying and entertaining him. During the war they had fought together at a point, and she had struck him with perfect tactics and calmness. It was strange for him to see her so uneasy. But then again, he would probably never understand how women worked.
Sasuke watched her take one more step back and bow to him lightly. She smiled, bid him farewell and ran off into the nearby forest.
He watched the present in his hand, that barely occupied his palm. He was not used to having short and normal conversations with girls. This was a nice change.
Walking to the roof of the building, he sat, his feet tied in front of him. The starry sky brought him peace. He stood like that for a while, until curiosity took its toll. Unwrapping the square package, he gazed inside to see a strangely looking cupcake. His onyx eyes gazed at it for a moment.
He took it out and sniffed it.
Tomatoes. It was made of some soft bread-like substance, mixed up with both fresh and dried tomatoes. This also explained the weird look it had, and the reddish color.
There was something else in the wrapper. A small, white candle with thin red stripes.
The Uchiha held the two things for a moment, not being sure what to do. This was actually nice, and he never felt nice. This frustrated him.
Sticking the candle in the cupcake, he gazed at it. Using a faint Katon release, he blew at the candle and it lit.
Did she want to poison him? No, everyone knew that Orochimaru had made sure Sasuke was immune to all kinds of poison. Then why?
Exhaling, he gave up. He blew the candle out quickly, removed it and took a bite.
And it was actually very tasty.
In a few seconds the cupcake was completely gone. He laid on his back and stared at the sky.
For the first time in years he actually felt something else than hate and annoyance on this day. And, as much as he did not want to admit it, it was a nice feeling. This had been a better surprise and a better cake that anything Sakura, Naruto or anyone else could do.
I wonder if she has more of these, he thought, smiling to himself.
I should take her on a date.
Note:
Happy happy birthday to my favorite Sasuke!
Hope you liked it, I wanted to write something in the honor of his special day :)
Also, my tumblr blog is ready and I will soon start posting stuff done with my lovely new tablet 3 In it I will be adding my own arts for my fan fics, just to try and turn things from words into images. You can find a link to the account in my Author's info.